Haffajee is considering if elements of The Dispossessed series could be replicated in South Africa, where poverty is one of the biggest and most pressing problems.
Cohen’s ‘The Dispossessed’ series – run over five days in May 2010 – revealed stories of hidden poverty in London’s boroughs, from one young man unable to apply to university because he didn’t have the application fee, to babies being buried in mass paupers’ graves. It developed into The Dispossessed Fund, now sitting at £7.2 million, that gives money to charities working with the poor and tackling the key areas of education, crime, health and unemployment.
City Press editor Ferial Haffajee told Journalism.co.za in October that she hoped to bring more texture to reporting on poverty.
Haffajee said: “Generally (in the South African media) we cover poverty like shocked outsiders…I’m reading a book by David Cohen called Calling London, based on a series of investigations by London’s Evening Standard into the poor in London. Through the series, the paper raised an eye-boggling amount for the urban poor and also impacted on the city’s housing policy. I hope to get us to such a place.”
Cohen said: “One of the most interesting things that came out of the series, he says, is that the readers didn’t get bored with the paper’s continuing investigations and campaigns on poverty. It also led to the Evening Standard being redefined as a champion for Londoners and a conduit for connecting the haves and have nots.”
This week Haffajee said that she was still ruminating over the book and how her newspaper covers poverty and will do more so over the Christmas break.
‘Calling London’ outlines how journalism can galvanise people to join a campaign that can change lives for the better.
